Pixies bring magical influence to Vivid opener

Senior music writer

Black Francis (right) and Joey Santiago from the Pixies at the opening night of Vivid Live.

Reviewer rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Pixies

Opera House Concert Hall, May 23

Why are Boston’s Pixies so revered? How did a deliciously idiosyncratic, sometimes terrifying alt-rock band become the kind of act that could, upon reuniting 11 years after their 1993 split, suddenly headline festivals around the world?

You can cite everything from their influence on the likes of Nirvana to the fact that, perhaps, too many fans missed them the first time around, but on this opening night of Vivid Live at least, the reason was glaringly obvious. Among all the strangeness and the screaming (of frontman Black Francis) are some of the most spectacular rock songs of the 20th century. (Not to mention that a lot of the strangeness and the screaming – we’re looking at you, Ed Is Dead and Nimrod’s Son – can still be pretty riveting, too.)

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There was no Gigantic, of course; even with an able replacement for estranged bass goddess Kim Deal in ring-in Paz Lenchantin the Pixies wouldn’t dare try that. But whether the four-piece were ripping through indie-dancefloor classics such as Wave of Mutilation, swinging along with the unabashed pop of Here Comes Your Man or making us swoon and cry to Where Is My Mind? the tunes just kept coming. Even a couple of expected highlights that didn’t fully fire (Debaser, Velouria) still soared higher than most modern rock songs.

Talking of which, there was a healthy amount of new material, too. Having this year released, in Indie Cindy, the first album of original Pixies songs since 1991, they played enough of them to let you know they can still write both demented, genre-shifting rants (the title track) and pretty, straightforward rockers (Greens and Blues) worthy of their high standards.

Not that this was a deal-breaker, if you’ll pardon the pun, but all four current band members looked like they were enjoying themselves, too. Anyone who noticed the tension between Francis and Deal at the V Festival in 2007, for example, will know the Pixies don’t have to be having fun to sound incredible. Here, however, the experience was sweetened by such glimpses into their state of mind, like when Joey Santiago visibly relished taking us on a thrill ride with his guitar solo on an extended Vamos. Or when a grinning Dave Lovering brought the house down as he crooned the coda to La La Love You from behind his drum kit.

And when Francis broke into a rare smile as he took his victory lap at the end, it seemed to confirm what we always hope to get from a gig: that we’d all been part of something special.

Pixies play three more Vivid Live shows at the Concert Hall from May 24 to 26.